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Kalkaska Public Safety Department Expands, Looks for New Hires

The Kalkaska Public Safety Department is making room for new hires. The village council recently approved a nearly $36,000 expansion project.

“Two years ago, it was down to just me,” says Sergeant Aaron Popa with the Kalkaska Public Safety Department.

From one officer, to three and working its way toward five… the village’s department continues to grow.

“The Kalkaska County Sheriff’s Office covers the village when we don’t have anybody available, but it’s extra work load for them on top of having to handle the 580 square miles that the county already covers,” says Popa.

The village council recently approved a more than 1,000 square foot expansion project, which is making room to bring more people on board.

Village President Harley Wales says, “It has a place for them to go now. Before it was just kind of an open space and you really didn’t know where it was.”

Now, every officer and every new hire will have their own space.

Popa says, “It just makes us feel like we are important and they view us as that and they view us as an essential service and they want us to have the area that we need to do the job that we need to do.”

On top of that, the department received a new security system for its files.

Wales says, “We also have a separate space for our LEIN officer, that’s the Law Enforcement Information Network, and that has to be self-contained because that’s a lot of private information, so she has her own office with the locked door where she can store her files.”

Sergeant Popa says it’s a step toward the future, which looks bright for the Village of Kalkaska.

“We are going to be able to provide more hours of service and more coverage for the residents of the village of Kalkaska,” says Popa.

The department hopes to hire additional officers every year until they fulfill their 24 hour coverage promise.